France Records Growing Number of Supercentenarians

France is experiencing a notable increase in the number of supercentenarians, individuals aged 110 years or older, with women predominantly represented in this age group. The phenomenon, scarcely observed until the late 1980s, has recently seen a surge, with 39 cases recorded in 2022.

The overall number of French centenarians has also seen significant growth, rising from approximately 1,000 in 1970 to 31,000 in 2022. Projections suggest that by 2070, 200,000 people in France will be aged 100 or older. French women, with the highest life expectancy in the European Union, are driving the country’s high number of centenarians, with Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 as the world’s longest-lived person on record, reaching the impressive age of 122 years and 5 months.

While there is no clear explanation for the concentration of supercentenarians in France, the contribution made by the so-called ‘Mediterranean diet’ is widely thought to be significant. Arguably the most studied diet of the past seventy years, the vitamin-rich Mediterranean diet is based on the eating habits of populations living in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Compared with people residing in Northern Europe or North America, the population of this region tends to have greater longevity and a lower occurrence of chronic degenerative diseases.

To learn more about the Mediterranean diet and its proven role in the prevention of disease, see this article on our website.